Crews tackle mudslide damage across three Tyrol locations

Cleanup operations were continuing on Saturday after several mudslides hit the Valsertal valley, the Hahntennjoch road and the Zillergrund toll road in Tyrol, with some work expected to continue into the evening, ORF reported. The damage is extensive in some places.

Four mudslides hit the Hahntennjoch road in the Innsbruck-Land district on Friday. Crews cleared two smaller slides that day and were working on the two larger ones on Saturday with two wheel loaders and an excavator.

The first priority was to repair protective embankments at the Hahntennjoch. The work was expected to continue through the afternoon and possibly into the evening, according to the state of Tyrol. A washing vehicle was then due to remove the remaining dirt from the road. The road was expected to remain closed until at least 8 p.m. on Saturday.

Heavy equipment was also being used in the Valsertal, a side valley of the Wipptal. A mudslide on Friday evening hit a car park and several vehicles belonging to hikers. Eleven hikers were evacuated by police helicopter. No one was injured.

Crews were clearing the road to the car park and redirecting a stream into its channel. Vals Mayor Klaus Ungerank said the bridge had withstood the pressure, but the streambed had been blocked. Workers needed to excavate it and rebuild the access road to the car park.

The Zillergrund toll road in the Schwaz district also remained closed on Saturday morning. A mudslide hit the road on Thursday evening. Markus Hoflacher, the owner of the Au am Zillergrund inn and an eyewitness, said several mudslides had come down from the Sundergrund and smaller side streams, including between the Häusling inn and his own business.

Cleanup work was continuing there as well. Hoflacher said conditions were stable despite rain the previous day and expressed hope that the road would reopen on Saturday.